Air travel hassles prompt execs to fly on their own - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

http://homeworker.tumblr.com/post/4419283126/sliding-doors-for-everyone
Sterling Aviation, a charter and corporate aircraft management firm based at in has nearly tripled the number of aircrafg in its fleet from six to 17 in the lastthreed years. There has been a corresponding increasw in flights in and out of General Mitchell, said Rob Gort, Sterling’s “Commercial air travel is a nightmare, prompting more businesses to turn to charteras and air taxis,” Gort said. Sterling owns four jets and managese 13 jets for corporate which are also used for corporatw charter excursions when the owners are not usinggthe aircraft. , a charter company and the managemeny firm that runs in Milwaukee and in also is seeing an increase in flight hours.
Gran-Aire touts its ability to fly into “reliever” airporte in major cities, allowing business travelerxs toavoid check-in lines, overbookeed flights and long waits for luggage. “Localp companies are making more inquiries about charter services because ofthe time-savings advantage,” said Keith Markano, airport managert at Crites Field. Crites Field has seen a 25 percen t increase in corporate charter landing and takeoffssince 2003. Whilde charter services are handling morebusiness travel, the number of companies owning aircraft also has increasefd since 2002, according a spokeswomab at General Mitchell.
More than a dozehn Milwaukee-area corporations keep aircraft in hangars atthe airport. Some of the largestg companiesinclude , , , , and . , Sussex, has ownexd a corporate jet for more than 20 yeara and leases hangar space at Crites The commercial printing company ownsa 14-passenger Gulfstream and an eight-passenger Lear jet. “We’df need twice as many executives if our people were bouncingg around commercial airports instead of traveling on the corporate saidJoel Quadracci, president of Quad/Graphics. Quad/Graphics has plantsw in New York, Georgia and West Virginia, in addition to its five plantasin Wisconsin.
The jet can transport executives tothe hard-to-get-tol locations and return the same day. Moreover, Quadraccik said the company can make trips to more than one printingh plant ina day, whichj would never be possible on a commercial “We have a lot of capital tied up in aircraft operations, but it’s a tool we can easilu justify,” said Quadracci. Like other companies, Quad/Graphics leasesz its planes to companies and organizations that need to runchartee flights. In August, when Democratic presidential candidat eand U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was about to name U.S. Sen. Joe Biden as his vice presidentialrunning mate, the Obama campaign leased the Quad jet to get Biden from D.
C., to the Democrats’ conventiohn in Denver. Television coverage of Biden gettinyg off the plane showedthe Quad/Graphics logo in the background. “Some people probably thought Quad/Graphics was supportinb the Obama campaign, but it was merelyy a charter flight on our said Quadracci. Rick a vice president and partnerat , is the lead executive for VJS Lincoln, a constructioh company that specializes in airplane hangaer and maintenance facilities.
Andritsch expects the aviation constructiohn sector to increase dramatically as more companiea and private individuals take ownershiop of a new class of jetscalled “verhy light jets,” which are small, more efficiengt aircraft that can handle three to five The very light jets are priced $2 millio to $5 million and many require only one About a dozen companies in the countryg produce the very light The new class of jets will be availabl e to buyers in late 2008 and earl 2009, said Andritsch. Smalle r companies can afford the verylightf jets, especially if they team up with othert companies and share ownership in the he said.